US Millionaire Put Plane On Autopilot To Have Sex With 15-Year-Old Girl

Darpan News Desk IANS, 22 May, 2019

A 53-year-old millionaire trader could get five-year jail term after pleading guilty to engaging in sex acts with a 15-year-old girl, once even putting his private plane in autopilot mode for the purpose.

Stephen Bradley Mell, 53, of Bedminster, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to federal charges of engaging in interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct and receiving child pornography in December 2018 and is now due for sentencing on Tuesday.

Mell, a father-of-three who had a brokerage firm, was accused of committing sex acts with a 15-year-old girl whose mother had approached him so that he could give her flying lessons, the Daily Mail reported.

Ahead of his sentencing, Mell's legal team has argued he is a 'humble man' who was on 'multiple anti-depressants' after falling into 'a spiral of depression' brought on by survivors' guilt over giving up his seat on a fatal helicopter trip with friends in 2012.

Mell also faces sentencing in July on a state charge related to sexual activity with the teen, which he pleaded guilty to earlier this month.

Mell started his own charity, Air LifeLine, which flew children with medical needs anywhere in the US for treatment.

Airline passengers from countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) landing at UK airports from Monday will no longer be required to complete the forms to be handed to immigration officers along with passports.

The Act follows the high-profile case of Bangladeshi-origin British schoolgirl Shamima Begum, who had travelled to the ISIS-controlled region over four years ago before discovery in a detention camp earlier this year.

The drilling work at Kekra-1 well in deep sea near Karachi has been stopped after no oil or gas reservoir could be found, according to Special Assistant to Prime Minister Khan on Petroleum Nadeem Babar.